Massacre of Glencoe

The Massacre of Glencoe was an incident at the village of Glencoe, Glen Coe, Scotland early in the morning on February 13, 1692, during the era of the Glorious Revolution and the Jacobite Risings. 38 MacDonalds were killed by the guests who had accepted their hospitality, for not promptly pledging allegiance to the new king, William of Orange. Another 40 women and children died of exposure after their homes were burned.

Inquiry

Under Scots law there was a special category of murder known as "murder under trust" which was considered to be even more heinous than ordinary murder. The Glencoe massacre was a clear example of such, and the results of the inquiry into it draws parallels with the Nuremburg Trials.

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Though the command of superior officers be very absolute, yet no command against the laws of nature is binding; so that a soldier, retaining his commission, ought to refuse to execute any barbarity, as if a soldier should be commanded to shoot a man passing by inoffensively, upon the street, no such command would exempt him from the punishment of murder.

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The challenge to the inquiry which had been established was to apportion blame on those responsible for the massacre, and yet the orders which led to the massacre were signed by the King himself, who could not be seen to be responsible. By 1695, the Duke of Argyll's Regiment had surrendered to the French in Flanders, putting Campbell, Drummond and Duncanson beyond the reach of Scots law. The conclusion of the commission was to exonerate the King and to place the blame for the massacre upon Secretary Dalrymple. The Scottish Parliament, after reviewing the commission report, declared the execution of the MacDonald men to have been murder and delegated the "committee for the security of the kingdom" to prepare an address to the king which included recommendations for the punishment of the perpetrators of the plot and compensation to be paid to the surviving MacDonalds. As far as is known, these recommendations were never acted upon except for the imprisonment of Lord Breadalbane for a few days in Edinburgh castle because he had opened himself to a charge of high treason.

Related Topics:
1695 - Flanders - Edinburgh

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